Female F-22 pioneer lauds Air Force’s progress

Ask Col. Dawn Dunlop about her background, and she ticks through her accomplishments in the simplest and most matter-of-fact way.

“I was the first female Air Force fighter pilot in Europe. I was the first F-22 pilot. I was the first test wing commander. And God willing, I will be the first female fighter pilot general officer in the Air Force,” she said.

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But does she consider herself a trailblazer? Hardly.

Those achievements “are all, I think, a credit to policy decisions that were made [in the past] and my timing, as well as the support of fantastic leaders and peers who understood the difference between how men and women think — and encouraged me in ways that they might not have encouraged men,” she told POLITICO during a wide-ranging interview at the Pentagon.

If she gets the big promotion, Dunlop would pin on her general’s star at a time when the military is embracing some historic changes for women. It decided to overturn the 1994 Pentagon rule restricting women from artillery, armor, infantry and other combat roles. But it’s resisting others. The brass is fighting a proposal by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) that would give military prosecutors, rather than commanders, the power to decide which sexual assault cases to try.

Dunlop, 46, says she’s proof that it’s now possible for women to ascend the ranks in an arena long dominated by only men — but she also said she has seen some of its persistent problems firsthand.

The daughter of immigrants, Dunlop was recruited as an athlete to attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“I didn’t know I wanted to join the military,” she recalled. “I’m the first person in my family in the military. And I’m a first-generation American so we didn’t know anything about the Air Force Academy.”

After graduating in 1988, Dunlop earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering at Columbia University before entering pilot training school. But then she faced a roadblock: Women were not yet allowed to fly combat aircraft.

“It was a surprise to me going off to pilot training that there were opportunities that were not available to me purely because I was a woman,” she said.

But Dunlop waited it out, serving as a T-38 instructor pilot until the rules changed, allowing her the opportunity to at last fly a fighter.

Asked what she’d say to a woman considering joining the Air Force today, or what her experience has been like as a woman in the military, Dunlop said she wouldn’t frame it that way. Instead, she said she looked at her experience through the lens of being a professional first.

“I think most men and women I know have just wanted the opportunity to compete,” she said. “Where there are standards in the military we absolutely need to maintain those standards, but we need to be clear in defining them and then hold everybody accountable. We should never find ourselves in a position where we completely disregard an entire segment of the population from competing for things.”

The decision to allow women to serve in combat for the Air Force may have been easier than for the other services, she suggested, because there “weren’t specific physical standards that people can highlight other than being able to make it through the course.”

“Hopefully, the decision that was made in 1993 for the Air Force laid the groundwork for the other services,” she said, recalling former Defense Secretary Les Aspin’s decision to end restrictions on women flying combat missions.